THE BAY OF BISCAY. 207 



of the Celtic tribes, whose descendants occupy almost 

 the whole of Western Europe. The Celts, who were 

 more powerful and more warlike than the Euska- 

 rians, almost everywhere exterminated them, leaving 

 them no other asylum than the wild gorges of the 

 Pyrenees.* Here, favoured by the nature of the 

 ground, and having grown accustomed to war through 

 necessity, the remnant of these nations formed 

 several small confederate republics f, and struggled 

 successfully against new invasions. Dating from 

 historic times, we see all the conquerors repulsed 

 from the natural strongholds which the courage of 

 these mountaineers had rendered impregnable. Car- 

 thaginians, Romans, Goths, Franks, and Saracens, 

 each in their turn attempted to subjugate the Basques. 

 They often defeated them in pitched battles, they 

 laid waste their valleys and their hills, and sometimes 

 they even subdued them for a time to their yoke ; 

 but this subjection was only temporary or nominal, 

 since the Basques never lost their nationality, whilst 

 they have always obstinately retained their own man- 

 ners and language. 



The Euskarian populations were in truth rather 

 the allies than the actual subjects of their pretended 

 rulers. Ever ready to resume entire independence, 



* According to M. Chaho, the giants, Tartaro, of which we read 

 in popular legends, were merely Celts. 



f The principal Euskarian tribes at the period of the Punic wars 

 were the Cantabri and the Vascones. The latter subsequently gave 

 their name to the whole of these provinces and the populations by 

 which they were occupied. The present Basque tribes are the 

 immediate descendants of the Vascon family. 



